my first fe-your first fe

[turbohunter]

My first one is in the picture. One of my present ones is behind the pic. Mustang before that.
My first intro to FEs was my dads 1965 F250 camper special. I remember that engine would ping like nobodies business. Wish I knew then what I know now. Darn I wish I knew where that truck was/is.

[chris401]

My dad handed down his dad's 1965 F-100 when I was 13. He had a .060 over 360 (371) from another truck that had the correct pistons. Some times after school it was too far for my mom to take me to dad's job sites. That gave me time to figure out how to put that engine in the truck. Had it ever since.

[bsprowl]

In '61 my drivers license driving my God father's '58 Edsel Ranger with a 361 FE.

Bought a '58 Ford 332 Station Wagon in  '67 that needed a camshaft according to the seller.  Adjusted the valves and it ran OK.  Did a valve job and it ran fine.

In '69 when I came back from Viet Nam i bought my first '66 Galaxie 7 Litre. 

Bob

[cjshaker]

My first FE car is my current '69 R-code Mach, which I bought when I was 15. But it had a 351W/C4 in it at the time.
My first FE powered car was a bone stock 390 '67 Fairlane, when I was 17. I only had it a short while, fixed it up and sold it so I could get the money to concentrate on getting an FE in my Mustang.
My 2nd FE powered car was my Mustang (see above) . It has been FE powered every since.

Since I grew up around cars, and my Dad and all his friends were Ford NUTS, I had plenty of exposure to Fords of all kinds. From Model A's to '60s muscle cars. As a small kid of about 6 or 7, in the '70s, one of my favorites of all my Dads friends was a '56 Ford Crown Vic that had a 427 High Riser in it. That car was just freakin awesome, beautiful and mean! It's actually still around and the same guy still owns it. I've always loved that car, and whenever we visited his house, it was nothing but black marks leaving his driveway. I think he's mellowed just a bit since then..lol

[gregb]

69 Mach 1.  R code, but had a 351C when I got it in 83.  In 89 it got the FE that's in it now.  First FE ride was at 15 in a friends 66 Cyclone GT, which was also the first FE car I drove. 

[AlanCasida]

My first FE powered was also my first car, a black 1966 Galaxie 500(what else!) 2dr hardtop with a 352/cruis-o-matic. I bought in august of 1974 and owned it until 1985. If I'd kept hold of it just two more years I would have it now instead of my green one, which I bought in 1989. 

[thatdarncat]

After I graduated from high school in 1978 I wanted to build a drag car / hot street car. My regular car was a '68 Cougar with 289 2V my parents had bought new and I bought from them when I graduated, but I realized even then was too rusty to make a good project. I figured I'd be looking for another car. I also gave some thought to what engine I wanted to build. I was totally Ford blue and growing up in the '60's a 427 always seemed like the ultimate. Even at that time Ford 427's weren't easy to find. Eventually I got a tip from a salvage yard I used to frequent on someone who had some. When I did meet up with him it turned out he not only had a 427 for sale, but oodles of 427 Cammers as well. The Cammers were unfortunately out of my price range even then, and that's another story for another time, but I made a deal on a 427 side oiler short block with a NASCAR crank & rods and TRW pop up forged pistons and Crane solid lifter cam. I also bought a pair of 428CJ heads, the most I could afford after buying the short block. The 427 short block was basically ready go, I had to round up the rest of the stuff to go with it. I also had to find a car to put it in lol. At first I bought a 1966 Cyclone GT that had belonged to a friend in high school, but another friend and his brothers had got to it first and the 390 GT drive line and some other parts were already gone. Although pretty solid, it also had rusty floors and eventually I decided it too was going to need more work than I could handle at the time. At that time a friend who ran a body shop / used car lot told me about a 1968 Torino GT 390 car he had taken in on trade. The Torino was complete and had come from Seattle and was rust free. Someone had done a poor paint job on it, and the C6 was going to need a rebuild, but otherwise looked like a good buy for $400. Ultimately, with a lot of help from my friends I did get the 427 together and into the Torino. I bracket raced the Torino for 5 years, and it was a pretty good race car. I learned a lot on that build, and tried lots of different things. The Torino ran a best of high 11.90's a few times. I still have the Torino, the Cyclone and the 427. Here's a few old pictures. 

[My427stang]

I'll have to find a picture somewhere, but my first family FE was a 68 short bed 4x4 F100.  Dad owned it, and one of his employees drag raced a hot Fairlane.  He got all kinds of leftover CJ parts and built a pretty stock, but stout "390 CJ" out of it to replace the 360, and with headers, dual 2.5 inch exhaust, and old school glasspacks (even had sidepipes at one point in the 70s)  It was real strong, and as a little 4000 lb 4x4, with L78 tires and 3.50 gears, would surprise everyone.  That truck had 400K miles on it when our shop burned in 1984, approx 20 vehicles lost, and I have to assume it'd still be in the family today if the garage didn't burn

My first was a 67 F250.  Given to me before I had my license, someone swapped in a solid lifter 390, C-6, complete with shifter on the floor.  In the early 80s, you could still find good stuff, so despite it being a rusty junker, I had Lemans valve covers on it and a set of blue glasspacks and would burn rubber around the garage parking lot.  Ended up selling it to fund a 389 Lemans, and ran the Pontiac route for a while.

In 1984, I got the 1971 F100 I still have today, originally small block powered 2WD bought new by my grandfather, it got it's first FE in 1987 when I put 4 wheel drive under it, a 360, then later a 390, then a better 390, nitrous, Predator carb for a while, and all sorts of crazy ideas with big tires and lift kits.  Now 445, the date on my title is January 1987, and the only reason for the 3 year delay is because we used to have "repair"plates at the shop, much like dealer plates, so I didn't register it until I had to!

The picture below was likely 1987, and probably 390 Predator Carbed, but not nitrous as I had the tank mounted on the roll bar and you could see the valve.

 

[stroked67]

I've allways been a ford guy, but my first Fe wasn't until august of last year, when I bought a 67 galaxie 500 with a 428/463 stroker. bought it and within 5 miles of driving it, it developed a nasty rocker tick (some of you guys may remember me asking what could cause this, actually the reason I joined this forum to begin with!)  well anyways needless to say I wasn't that impressed with the Ford fe at that point, I pulled the intake only to find that one of the rollers had snapped off the lifters and munched the cam up pretty good.  Got her rebuilt with new bearings, oil pump, cam and lifters.  Boy I tell you guys what, I will never own another hot rod without a Fe in it again other then the ones I own now, HA!  Nothing sounds like a Fe in my opinion, and I have owned a couple of Bada$$ fords, 70 torino with a hot little 302 and traded it for a 94 mustang with a carbureted 347 stroker that I built, 04 supercharged lightning, all those are gone now but own a 71 torino with a 429CJ, 71 mach 1 that is a Cleveland car, 67 mustang with a wicked little 289.  And none of those compare to that 463 Fe!!!!

[wowens]

1st was a 66 Fairlane 500 hardtop. Bought new late 65 while in service. 390, 3 on tree, bench seat, white, red interior. Local terror at 30 on for 1/2 mile. Last was a 67 Mustang F/B with a .017 over Tunnelport with 428 crank, toploader, HM 882 cam, dykes ring piston, two 715 cfm carbs, a all around local terror. Damn I had a lot of fun in the day.

[Tommy-T]

I'll bite.

I was kind'a born into FE Ford's. My Uncle Jack bought a new Fairlane 352/360 and did quite with it at San Fernando, Fontana , and Colton drag strips. His brother, my Uncle Leon had famed Bonneville racer and family friend Tom Beatty put a 390/375 in his '56 T-Bird in late '61.
My dad bought a new F100 in '62 complete with a 6 cylinder and three-on-the-tree. Next summer he and my mom built a camper in the back yard and put it on the truck. The summer after that the '62 got a 390/Cruzo combination. When it got around that my dad had done the FE swap into the earlier pickups, he started doing them pretty regularly, especially on '53 to '56's.

My first car was actually a '57 Nomad bought from a friend from my folks church when I was 14. I sold it before I had a license to by my '67 Mustang 2+2 with a 390 which I still have.

[RJP]

My 1st FE powered car was a 57 Ford 2 door hardtop. It had a 292 Y-block in it before I pulled it and swapped a rebuilt 352 that I bought from a neighbor. That was in 1966. In 1967 I bought my 1st OEM FE, a 60 Starliner, 360 HP/352 that was not running, missing a few small parts and had a blown head gasket. Got the tired 352 running and drove it for close to a year before I swapped it for a rebuilt 390. Still have the 60 'Liner to this day, however not FE powered.

[sixty9cobra]

My first FE is my current mustang that I bought in 1974 for 400 bucks. A 69 mach1 390 4 speed, already had headers and bald G60s on American 5 spokes. It had drum brakes all around and manual steering.

[Rory428]

I recently turned 60, which means I turned 16 and got my drivers license in 1973. First car was a 57 Ford Sedan Delivery (272 Y block 3 speed), made my first 1/4 pass in that car in 1974 (17.5 @78 MPH!)then a 273/235HP 4 speed 65 Valiant,then a 2nd 57 Sedan Delivery, also 272 3 speed. In 1975, I bought a 390 core engine from a high school friends 63 Mercury. I origionally planned on building up the 390, and putting it in Sedan Delivery #2, but a local Ford racer ( 69 428CJ Super Stock/G stick Mustang) was doing my engine, and suggested finding a Mustang or Fairlane to put it in. I had already had a 1970 Mustang Sportsroof, factory M code 351C 4 barrel with Shaker hood, but didn`t really feel like doing that much work to my 6 year old daily driver. A buddy had bought a black 66 Fairlane GTA the year before, then broke the 390.  I traded him a nice running 57 Ford 4 door sedan for the Fairlane, and put my new 390 in it. (Also found out about early 2 bolt motor mount FE blocks in later cars, as well as how the 390 GT Cyclone headers did not line up with my 428 CJ heads. With the CJ heads, a General Kinetics hyd cam, a newly released Edelbrock Streetmaster, and Holley 780 vac, the Fairlane ran a best of 12.62 @ 110 MPH, thru the Thrush mufflers, on 9" slicks, with a 4.57 Detroit Locker, and a C6 with a crappy local :high stall" 2200 RPM convertor. Many other FE vehicles followed, including a 64 Falcon, 5 R codes (2 69 Mach 1s, 70 Mach 1, and 2 69 Cobra fastbacks), couple of trucks, and of course my 78 Fairmont, that I have owned since 1986. Hers a few shots of some of my FE stuff.

[Rory428]

By the way, my 2nd 57 Sedan Delivery did get a FE in 1978, a 72 360 from a buddys F250, with a CJ cam , a 62 3x2 barrel setup, and a C6. Never raced it with the 3x2, it did go 16.2@ 84 MPH with a iron 4 barrel intake and 600 Holley.
My 64  Falcon ran a best of 11.65 with the Fairlanes 390,the black 69 Mach 1 ran a best of 11.92@115 , the 70 Mach 1 ran a best of 12.47@111 MPH.
I only ran 1 of the 69 Cobras, bone stock with 3.00 gears, C6 (A/C car) at 4050 pounds (with me in it), ran best of 14.26 @96 MPH